2 days at DL or 2 days at DCA?

[29apr00]

We are taking our 1st trip to DL in January for me to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon. We'll arrive Thursday afternoon, enough time to go to the Expo, then get dinner and walk around DTD for a bit before we crash due to jet lag and a very early start. So.....Fri/Sat/Sun.. My plan was to originally do DCA on Friday, hoping that it would be a bit less busy than the weekend. Then do DL on Saturday and Sunday.

Do you think it should be the other way around?? 2 days at DCA and just 1 day at DL?

 

[Cheshirecatty]

We are taking our 1st trip to DL in January for me to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon. We'll arrive Thursday afternoon, enough time to go to the Expo, then get dinner and walk around DTD for a bit before we crash due to jet lag and a very early start. So.....Fri/Sat/Sun.. My plan was to originally do DCA on Friday, hoping that it would be a bit less busy than the weekend. Then do DL on Saturday and Sunday.

Do you think it should be the other way around?? 2 days at DCA and just 1 day at DL?

Ooooo, that's a hard one!

If it was my first trip, I think I'd want that second day at Disneyland.

However, I don't think you'd regret having the second day at DCA either.

If you have park hoppers, why not spend one day at each park, and then decide at which to spend the third day?

Really, I don't think you can lose, no matter which you choose!!!

 

[2xPrincess]

Park hoppers! A must for Disneyland.

 

[taaren]

Most people at DLR hop all day long. I'd plan on all three days in both parks. Your main concern is which park to start with if you're rope dropping for priority at which E-tickets.

 

[Cinderpamela]

Parkhoppers are a must! It's much different than WDW in that the parks are right next to each other.

 

[nutshell]

I'm starting to think that park hoppers are overrated now that FP times are enforced. For this trip we spent an entire day at DCA and then an entire day at DL. It's only today (our third day) that we're hopping. Just my opinion.

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm starting to think that park hoppers are overrated now that FP times are enforced. For this trip we spent an entire day at DCA and then an entire day at DL. It's only today (our third day) that we're hopping. Just my opinion.

Yes, the FP advantages of hopping maybe have declined since enforcement began, but there are still lots of benefits to hopping. I enjoy the flexibility of being able to choose nighttime entertainment and dining options in either of the parks. Also, DCA still has shorter hours than DL, so for any of those diehard fans that want to stay until closing, hopping will give them extra time in the parks.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Have to get park hopper tickets, way better flexibility, well worth the extra money.

 

[jamalana]

We just got back from a 3 day trip. Some of us had annual passes, the rest had 3 day park hoppers. If you absolutely don't want park hoppers, I recommend 1 day DCA and 2 days at Disneyland.

We did 1 full day without park hopping at DCA, 1 full day without park hopping at DL, and the 3rd day park hopping between both to finish up anything we skipped. There were closures of some of the must-do's for our group yesterday (filming in front of the castle yesterday morning closed off the front of the castle where we would have wanted pictures before the park getting too crowded, and riding Screamin' at DCA), so we kept saying "thank goodness we did those on the first day" for each park. Had yesterday been the only day in either of those parks, a park hopper would have been really important to go back to see or do what you miss.

 

[29apr00]

Thanks Jamalana!! That does help me!

 

[ktlm]

WDW vet here. To give you an idea, hopping from DL to DCA is basically like walking from where the bus drops you off at one of the WDW parks to the gate, or actually it is probably even shorter than that in most instances. It is pretty much 5 minutes to get out of one park and into the other. Being WDW vets, we think of DL/DCA as basically one big park. We hop all day there, depending on showtimes, food etc. Actually, if you ask my DH, it would be about the beer. He likes to at least hop over to DCA from DL long enough to pick up a Karl Strauss beer on the wharf daily! I think he feels the way about those Karl Strauss beers that I do about Mickey Head Ice Cream bars!